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THE 


ALASKO-CANADIAN 
FRONTIER 


Prepared  in  the  Office  of  the  U.  S.  Coast  and  (icodctic  Snrvri/.     Trcasiiri/  Department . 
Umtki)  Statks  and  Kx(;i,isi[  T'ounpahy  Claims. 


MAr^   No.    1, 


THE 


AL  ASKO-CANA  DI  AN 
FRONTIER 


Thus  we  wish  to  retain,  and 
the  English  Companies  wish 
to  acquire. — Count  Sessdrode. 

BY 


THOMAS   WILLING    BxVLCH 

A.  B.  (Harvard) 

Member  of  the  Philadelphia  Bar 

The  American  Philosophical  Society 

The  American  Historical  Association,  etc. 

Author  of  "The  Brooke  Family  of  Whitchurch,  Hampshire,  England' 

"The  Alabama  Arbitration,"  etc. 


SECOND    EDITION 

(First  Edition,  Cloth  Binding) 


Read  at  the  Annual  Meeting  of  The  Franklin  Institute,  January  15th,  1902. 
AND  Reprinted  from  the  "Journal  of  The  Franklin  Institlte" 
FOR  March,  1902 


PHILADKLTHIA 

Press    of   Allen,   Lane    and    Scott 

li)02 


116271 


UCL.A 


Copyright,  1902,  by 
THOMAS   WILLING   BALCH 


>» 


1-n 


>    CJL 


THE 

ALASKO-CANADIAN   FRONTIER 


At  the  end  of  May,  1898,  the  United  States  and 
Great  Britain  agreed  to  appoint  an  Anglo-American 
Joint  High  Commission  to  consider  and  arrange 
upon  a  basis  more  favorable  to  both  sides,  such 
important  problems  as  the  regulations  of  the  North 
Atlantic  fisheries,  commercial  reciprocity,  and  the 
Behring  Sea  fishery  question.  Soon  after,  "  For  the 
first  time  a  statement  was  presented  by  the  British 
Government  to  the  Government  of  the  United  States 
on  the  1st  of  August,  1898,  developing  the  fact  that 
a  difference  of  views  existed  respecting  the  pro- 
visions of  the  treaty  of  1825"  between  the  United 
States  and  the  English  Empire,  concerning  the 
meaning  of  the  Alaska  frontier,  as  defined  in  the 
Anglo-Russian  treaty  of  1825;^  and  on  August  23d 


;S  the  British  Government  clainK'd-  that   the  eastern 

^  Tlie  Alaskan  Boundary,  by  the  Hon.  John  W.  Foster :  T?ie  National  Geo- 

graphic  Marjazine,  November,  1899:  Washington,  page  45.3.  Mr.  Foster, 
the  able  author  of  this  article,  was  Secretary  of  State,  1892-93,  in  tlie 
Harrison  Adminstration,  and  has  been  from  the  beginning  one  of  the 
United  States  members  of  the  Joint  High  Commission. 

'^See  map  Xo.  1.  In  collecting  maps  on  the  subject  of  the  Ala.«kan 
frontier,  I  have  received  kind  aid  from  Mr.  P.  Lee  Phillips,  chief  of  the 
Map  Division  of  the  Library  of  Congress,  and  Mr.  Tittman  and  Mr. 
Andrew  Braid,  of  the  United  States  Coast  and  Geodetic  Survey  Otlice, 
at  Washington,  D.  C. 


2  THE    ALASKO-CANADIAN    FRONTIER. 

boundary  of  Alaska  should  run  from  the  extremity 
of  Prince  of  Wales  Island  at  fifty-four  degrees  forty 
minutes,  along  the  estuary  marked  on  recent  maps 
as  Pearse  Canal,  up  to  the  top  of  the  Portland 
Canal,  from  there  straight  to  the  coast,  and  then 
along  the  mountains  on  the  mainland  nearest  to 
the  shore  and  across  all  the  sinuosities  of  the  sea 
that  advance  into  the  continent  up  to  Mount  Saint 
Elias.=^ 

By  the  treaty  negotiated  at  Saint  Petersburg 
and  signed  there  on  Februar}'-  16/28,  1825,'*  the 
Muscovite  and  the  British  Empires  agreed  in 
Articles  III.  and  IV.  of  that  treaty  upon  the  fol- 
lowing divisional  line  between  their  respective 
North  American  possessions. 

"  Article  III. 

''The  line  of  demarcation  between  the  posses- 
sions of  the  High  Contracting  Parties  upon  the 
coast  of  the  continent  and  the  islands  of  America 
to  the  northwest,  shall  be  drawn  in  the  manner 
following : 

"  Commencing  from  the  southernmost  point  of 
the  island  called  Prince  of  Wales  Island,  which 
point  lies  in  the  parallel  of  fifty-four  degrees 
forty  minutes  north  latitude,  and  between  the  one 

'  77je  Alaskan  Boundary,  by  the  Hon.  John  W.  Foster :    The  National 
Geographic  Magazine,  November,  1899:  Washington,  page  455. 

*  Fur    Seal  ArhUraUon :     Washington,   Government    Printing    Office, 
1895  ;  Volume  IV.,  pages  42-43. 


THE    ALASKO-CANADIAN    FRONTIER.  3 

hundred  and  thirty-first  and  the  one  hundred  and 
thirty-third  degree  of  west  longitude  (Meridian  of 
Greenwich),  the  said  line  shall  ascend  to  the  north 
along  the  channel  called  Portland  Channel,  as  far 
as  the  point  of  the  continent  where  it  strikes  the 
fifty  sixth  degree  of  north  latitude ;  from  this  last 
mentioned  point,  the  line  of  demarcation  shall  f(^l- 
low  the  summit  of  the  mountains  situated  parallel 
to  the  coast,  as  far  as  the  point  of  intersection  of 
the  one  hundred  and  forty-first  degree  of  west  lon- 
gitude (of  the  same  meridian) ;  and,  finally,  from 
the  said  point  of  intersection,  the  said  meridian  line 
of  the  one  hundred  and  forty-first  degree,  in  its  pro- 
longation as  far  as  the  Frozen  Ocean,  shall  form 
the  limit  between  the  Russian  and  British  Posses- 
sions on  the  continent  of  America  to  the  north- 
west. 

"  Article  IV. 

''With  reference  to  the  line  of  demarcation  laid 
down  in  the  preceding  Article,  it  is  understood  : 

''  First.  That  the  island  called  Prince  of  AVales 
Island  shall  belong  wholly  to  Russia. 

"  Second.  That,  wherever  the  summit  of  the 
mountains  which  extend  in  a  direction  parallel  to 
the  coast,  from  the  fifty-sixth  degree  of  north  lati- 
tude to  the  point  of  intersection  of  the  one  hun- 
dred and  forty-first  degree  of  west  longitude,  shall 
prove  to  be  at  the  distance  of  more  than  ten  marine 
leagues  from  the  ocean,  the  limit  between  the  British 


4  THE    ALASKO-CANADIAN    FRONTIER. 

Possessions  and  the  line  of  coast  which  is  to  be- 
long to  Russia,  as  above  mentioned,  shall  be  formed 
by  a  line  parallel  to  the  windings  [_siniwsiiis]  of  the 
coast,  and  which  shall  never  exceed  the  distance 
of  ten  marine  leagues  therefrom."^ 

*  Owing  to  the  importance  of  the  French  text,  which  the  British 
Government  in  its  printed  argument  in  the  Bering  Sea  Seal  Fisheries 
Case  {Fur  Seal  Arbitration,  Volume  IV.,  page  500)  recognized  as  the 
official  version,  and  the  fact  that  French  is  the  diplomatic  language  of 
the  world,  which  was  probably  much  more  the  case  in  1825  than  to-day, 
the  French  version  is  given  here. 

"  Article  III. 

"  La  ligne  de  demarcation  entre  les  possessions  des  Hautes  Parties 
Contractantes  sur  la  cote  du  continent  et  les  lies  de  I'Amt^rique  nord- 
ouest,  sera  tracee  ainsi  qu'il  suit: 

"  A  partir  du  point  le  plus  meridional  de  I'ile  dite  Prince  of  Wales 
lequel  point  se  trouve  sous  le  parallele  du  54«  degre  40  minutes  de  lati- 
tude nord,  et  entre  le  131<^  et  le  ISS*^  degre  de  longitude  ouest  (meridien 
de  Greenwich),  la  dite  ligne  remontera  au  nord  le  long  de  la  passe  dite 
Portland  Channel,  jusqu'au  point  de  la  terre  ferme  oCi  elle  atteint  le 
56**  degre  de  latitude  nord ;  de  ce  dernier  point  la  ligne  de  demarcation 
suivra  la  crete  des  montagnes  situees  parallelement  a  la  cote,  jusqu'au 
point  d'intersection  du  14P  degre  de  longitude  ouest  (mSme  meridien), 
et,  finalement,  du  dit  point  d'intersection,  la  meme  ligne  meridienne 
de  141^  degr6  formera,  dans  son  prolongement  jusqu'a,  la  Mer  Glaciale  ; 
la  limite  entre  les  possessions  Russes  et  Britanniques  sur  le  continent  de 
I'Am^rique  nord-ouest. 

"  Article  IV. 

"  II  est  entendu,  par  rapport  a  la  ligne  de  demarcation  d^termin^e 
dans  I'Article  pr6c(''dent : 

"  1".  Que  I'ile  dite  Prince  of  Wales  appartiendra  toute  entiere  a  la 
Russie. 

"  2°.  Que  partout  ou  la  crete  des  montagnes  qui  s'etendent  dans  une 
direction  parallele  a,  la  cote  depuis  le  56"  degr6  de  latitude  nord  au 
point  d'intersection  du  141*  degr6  de  longitude  ouest,  se  trouveroit  il  la 
distance  de  plus  de  10  lieues  marines  de  I'occ^'an,  la  limite  entre  les 
possessions  Britanni(jues  et  la  lisiere  de  cote  mentionnee  ci-dessus  comme 
devant  apj)artenir  a  la  Russie,  sera  formee  par  une  ligne  parallele  aux 
sinuosites  de  la  cote,  et  (jui  ne  jjoura  jamais  en  etre  ^loignde  que  de  10 
lieues  marines." 


THE    ALASKO-CANADIAN    FRONTIER.  5 

The  negotiations  (hat  resulted  in  tlie  treaty  of 
1825  were  originated  ))y  Jin  Ukase  issued  in  1821  by 
the  Emperor  Alexander  the  First,  in  w  hich,  in  addi- 
tion to  claiming  exclusive  jurisdiction  for  Russia  in 
the  waters  of  Behring  Sea  and  a  large  part  of  the 
northern  part  of  the  Pacific  Ocean,  he  extended  also 
the  territorial  claims  of  Russia  from  the  fifty-fifth  de- 
gree, as  claimed  by  the  Ukase  of  1799  issued  Vjy  the 
Emperor  Paul,  down  to  the  fifty-first  degree  of  north 
latitude.  The  United  States  and  Great  Britain  both 
protested  against  the  pretensions  of  sovereignty  as- 
serted in  the  Ukase  of  1821.  In  1824  the  United 
States  and  the  Russian  Governments  signed  a  treaty 
in  which,  among  other  things,  they  agreed  on  the 
parallel  of  fifty-four  degrees  and  forty  minutes  as 
the  divisional  line  between  their  respective  terri- 
torial claims :  all  below  that  line  Russia  agreed  to 
leave  to  the  United  States  to  contest  with  Great 
Britain,  and  all  above  it  the  United- States  consented 
to  leave  to  Russia  to  dispute  witli  England. 

Meanwhile,  the  course  of  negotiations  between 
Russia  and  England  did  not  progress  as  smoothly  ; 
but  finally,  in  February  1825,  nearly  a  year  after  the 
signing  of  the -Russo- American  Treaty,  the  Russian 
and  the  English  plenipotentiaries  signed  the  treaty 
containing  the  two  articles  above  quoted.  l-'<»r  more 
than  half  a  century  the  British  Emi)ire  nevt-r  eon- 
tested  the  interpretation  openly  proclaimed  by  both 
the  Muscovite  and  the  United  States  Governments 


6  THE    ALASKO-CANADIAN    FRONTIER. 

that  under  those  two  Articles,  first  Russia  and 
later — after  the  cession  of  Russian  America  or 
Alaska  in  1867  to  the  American  Union — the  United 
States  were  entitled  to  a  strip  of  territory  (lisiere) 
on  the  mainland  from  the  Portland  Channel  or 
Canal  in  the  south  up  to  Mount  Saint  Elias  in  the 
north  so  as  to  cut  off  absolutely  the  British  poses- 
sions  from  access  to  the  sea  above  the  point  of  fift}?"- 
four  degrees  forty  minutes.  In  August  1898,  for  the 
first  time,  the  British  Empire  formally  claimed  at 
the  Quebec  Conference  that  the  proper  reading  of 
those  two  articles  entitled  Canada  to  the  upper  part 
of  most  or  all  of  the  fiords  between  the  Portland 
Canal  and  Mount  Saint  Elias.'' 

A  review  of  the  negotiations  during  the  years  1822, 
1823,  1824  and  1825  between  Count  Nesselrode  and 
M.  de  Poletica  in  behalf  of  Russia,  and  first  of  Sir 
Charles  Bagot  and  afterwards  of  Mr.  Stratford  Can- 
ning, later  Lord  Stratford  de  Redclifie,  for  Great  Brit- 
ain, shows  clearly  that  the  agreement  finally  reached 
as  embodied  in  the  treaty  of  1825  was  to  exclude  the 
British  North  American  territory  from  all  access  to 
the  sea  above  the  point  of  fifty-four  degrees  fort}'' 
minutes.  From  the  very  inception  of  the  negotia- 
tions, the  Russians  insisted  upon  the  possession  for 
Russia  of  a  strip  or  lisihe  on  the  mainland  from  the 
Portland  Canal  up  to  Mount  Saint  Elias  expressly 

'  TTie  Alaskan  Boundanj  by  tin;    Hon.  John  W.  Foster:    The  National 
Geographic  Magazine,  November,  1899,  WaHliiiigton,  page  453. 


THE    ALASKO-OANADIAN     KK()NTIKI{.  7 

to  shut  off  England  from  access  to  the  sea  at  all 
points  north  of  the  Portland  Canal.  Sir  Charles 
Bagot,  on  behalf  of  England,  fought  strenuously  to 
keep  open  a  free  access  to  the  sea  as  far  north  aljove 
the  line  of  fifty-four  degrees  forty  niinutcs  as  pos- 
sible.^ First  he  proposed  tliat  the  line  of  territorial 
demarcation  between  the  two  countries  should  i-un 
"  through  Chatham  Strait  to  the  head  of  Lynn 
Canal,  thence  northwest  to  the  140th  degree  of 
longitude  west  of  Greenwich,  and  thence  along  that 
degree  of  longitude  to  the  Polar  Sea."*  To  this 
Count  Nesselrode  and  M.  de  Poletica  replied  with 
a  contre-projet  in  which  they  proposed  that  the 
frontier  line,  beginning  at  the  southern  end  of 
Prince  of  Wales  Island,  should  ascend  the  Port- 
land Canal  up  to  the  mountains,  that  then  from 
that  point  it  should  follow  the  mountains  parallel 
to  the  sinuosities  of  the  coast  up  to  the  one  hun- 
dred and  thirty-ninth  degree  of  longitude  west 
from  Greenwich,  and  then  follow  that  degree  of 
longitude  to  the  north.^ 

At  the  next  conference  Sir  Charles  Bagot  gave 
Count  Nesselrode  and  M.  de  Poletica  a  written  modi- 
fication of  his  first  proposition.  In  this  new  pro- 
posal he  first  stated  that  the  frontier  that  they  de- 
manded would  deprive  Great  Britain  of  sovereignty 

'  See  map  No.  2. 

*  Fur  Seal  Arbitration,  Volume  IV.,  page  424. 

^  jFar  Seal  ArhUration,  Volume  IV.,  page  427. 


J'nixtrdl  in  /he  (>ffi<-i  of  Un'   I'.  S.  (hast  iind  HkkIiIIi-  Siirrii/.     Tridxiir)/  Dijinrliiicnt. 
Sir  C.  I>a(. Ill's  Tiikkk  Pkoi-osicd  Boindakiics,  1824. 

MAI^   No.    2. 


THE    ALASKO-CANADIAN    FRONTIER.  9 

over  all  the  mises  and  small  bays  tliat  lie  between 
the  fifty-sixth  degree  and  the  fifty-fourth  degree 
forty  ^°  minutes  of  latitude ;  that  owing  to  tlie  prox- 
imity of  these  fiords  and  estuaries  to  the  interior 
posts  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company,  they  would 
be  of  essential  importance  to  the  commerce  of  that 
Company ;  while  on  the  other  hand,  the  Russian 
American  Company  had  posts  neither  on  the  main- 
land between  those  degrees  of  latitude,  nor  even  on 
the  neighboring  islands.  Sir  Charles  proposed  that 
the  line  of  separation  should  pass  through  "the  mid- 
dle of  the  canal  that  separates  Prince  of  Wales  Island 
and  Duke  of  York  Island  from  all  the  islands  situa- 
ted to  the  north  of  the  said  islands  until  it  [the  line] 
touches  the  mainland."  Then  advancing  in  the  same 
direction  to  the  east  for  ten  marine  leagues,  the  line 
should  then  ascend  towards  the  north  and  north- 
west, at  a  distance  of  ten  marine  leagues  from  the 
shore,  following  the  sinuosities  of  the  coast  up  to 
the  one  hundred  and  fortieth  degree  of  longitude 
west  from  Greenwich  and  then  up  to  tlie  north." 
At  the  next  conference  the  Russian  plenipoten- 
tiaries again  insisted  upon  their  original  proposal 
that  the  frontier  line  should  ascend  the  Portland 
Canal  and  then  follow  the  mountains  bordering 
the  coast  line. 

I  °  In  the  American  edition,  Fur  Seal  Arbitration,  Volume  IV.,  page  428 
"45^ "  is  printed;  this  is  probably  a  typographical  error  for  "40'." 

II  Fur  Seal  Arbitration,  Volume  IV.,  page  428. 


10  THE    ALASKO-CANADIAN    FRONTIER. 

Sir  Charles  Bagot  then  brought  forward  a  third 
boundary  line  that,  passing  up  Duke  of  Clarence 
Sound  and  then  running  from  west  to  east  along  the 
strait  separating  Prince  of  Wales  Island  and  Duke 
of  York  Island  to  the  north,  should  then  advance 
to  the  north  and  the  north-west  in  the  way  already 
proposed.^^ 

But  again  the  Russian  diplomats  insisted  on  their 
original  proposition.  On  April  17th,  1824,  Count 
Nesselrode  addressed  to  Count  Lieven,  the  Russian 
Ambassador  at  London,  a  long  and  exhaustive  review 
of  the  -negotiations  with  Sir  Charles  Bagot,  and  in- 
structed Count  Lieven  to  press  the  Russian  views 
upon  the  English  Cabinet.  In  that  communication, 
after  speaking  of  Russia's  declaration  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  negotiations  that  she  would  not  insist 
upon  the  claim  to  the  territory  down  to  the  fifty- 
first  degree  put  forward  in  the  Ukase  of  1821,  and 
that  she  would  be  content  to  maintain  the  limits 
assigned  to  Russian  America  by  the  Ukase  of  1799, 
he  went  on  to  say  "  that  consequently  the  line  of 
the  fifty-fifth  degree  of  north  latitude,  would  con- 
stitute upon  the  south  the  frontier  of  the  States 
of  His  Imperial  Majesty,  that  upon  the  continent 
and  towards  the  east,  this  frontier  could  run  along 
the  mountains  that  follow  the  sinuosities  of  the 
coast  up  to  Mount  Saint  Elias,  and  that  from  that 


'  *  Pur  Seal  Arbitration,  Volume  IV.,  page  430. 


THE    ALASKO-CAXADIAN     FRONTIER.  11 

point  up  to  the  Arctic  Ocean  we  would  fix  the 
limits  of  the  respective  possessions  according  to 
the  line  of  the  one  hundred  and  fortiotli  degree  of 
longitude  west  from  Greenwich. 

''  In  order  not  to  cut  Prince  of  Wales  Island, 
which  according  to  this  arrangement  should  Ijelong 
to  Russia,  we  proposed  to  carry  the  southern  frontier 
of  our  domains  to  the  fifty-fourth  degree  fortieth 
minute  of  latitude  and  to  make  it  reach  the  coast 
•of  the  continent  at  the  Portland  Canal  whose  mouth 
opening  on  the  ocean  is  at  the  height  of  Prince  of 
Wales  Island  and  whose  origin  is  in  the  lands  be- 
tween the  fifty-fifth  degree  and  fifty-sixth  degree 
•of  latitude." 

Russia,  by  limitins;  her  demands  to  those  set  forth 
in  the  Ukase  of  1799,  simply  defended  claims  against 
wdiich,  for  over  twenty  years,  neither  England  nor 
any  other  power  had  over  made  a  protest.  England, 
•on  the  contrary,  sought  to  establish  her  right  to  ter- 
ritory which  she  had  thus  passively  recognized  as 
Russian,  and  Avhich  lay  beyond  any  of  her  settle- 
ments. Count  Nesselrode  contrasted  the  policy  of  the 
two  states  in  the  pithy  sentence:  "Thus  we  wish  to 
•.retain,  and  the  English  Companies  wish  to  actpiire." 

The  negotiators  were  thu>  brought  face  to  face 
with  their  rival  claims.  The  Russians  insisted,  on 
the  one  hand,  tliat  they  must  have  possession  of  a 
lisib^e  or  strip  of  territory  on  the  mainland  in  order 
to  support  the  Russian  establishments  on  the  islands 


12  THE    ALASKO-CANADIAN    FRONTIER. 

and  to  prevent  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  from 
having  access  to  the  sea  and  forming  posts  and  settle- 
ments upon  the  coast  line  opposite  to  the  Russian 
Islands  ;  while  Sir  Charles  Bagot  maintained,  on  the 
other  hand,  that  Great  Britain  must  have  such  part 
of  the  coast  and  inlets  north  of  fifty-four  degrees 
forty  minutes  as  would  enable  the  English  Com- 
panies and  the  settlements  back  from  the  coast  to 
have  free  access  to  the  fiords  and  estuaries  opening 
into  the  ocean. 

After  a  few  months,  Mr,  George  Canning,  the 
English  Foreign  Secretary,  instructed  Sir  Charles 
Bagot  to  agree  to  the  Portland  Canal  as  part  of  the 
frontier  line  ;  but  with  the  reservation,  first,  that  the 
eastern  line  of  demarcation  should  be  so  defined  as 
to  guard  against  any  possibility,  owing  to  subsequent 
geographical  discoveries,  that  it  could  be  drawn  at 
a  greater  distance  from  the  coast  than  ten  marine 
leagues,  and  second,  that  the  harbor  of  Novo-Arch- 
angelsk  (now  Sitka)  and  the  rivers  and  creeks  on 
the  continent  should  remain  open  forever  to  British 
commerce. 

During  the  course  of  the  new  negotiations  be- 
tween Count  Nesselrode  and  M.  de  Poletica  in 
behalf  of  Russia,  and  of  Sir  Charles  Bagot  for 
England,  the  second  of  these  two  points  was  the 
main  object  of  discussion.  Sir  Charles  was  unable 
to  conclude  a  treaty  witli  the  Russian  diplomats, 
for  the  latter  refused  to  agree  to  open   forever  the 


THE    ALASKO-CANADIAN    FKONTIP:il.  13 

port  of  Novo-Archangelsk  to  British  commerce. 
Neither  were  they  willing  to  grant  to  the  subjects 
of  England  the  right  forever  to  navigate  and  trade 
along  the  coast  of  the  lisicre  that  it  was  proposed 
Russia  should  have.  The  British  Ambassador, 
realizing  that  it  was  impossible  for  him  to  nego- 
tiate a  treaty  in  accordance  with  his  instructions, 
soon  thereafter  left  Saint  Petersburg. 

In  the  latter  part  of  the  year  1824,  Great  Britain 
appointed  Mr.  Stratford  Canning,  later  Lord  Strat- 
ford de  Kedcliffe,  one  of  the  ablest  of  her  diplomats, 
to  continue  the  negotiations  left  unfinished  between 
Sir  Charles  Bagot,  and  Count  Nesselrode  and  M.  de 
Poletica.  When  Canning  took  up  the  negotiations, 
Great  Britain  had  receded  from  all  contentions  ex- 
cept as  to  the  width  of -the  lisiere.  In  his  instruc- 
tions he  received  power  to  arrange  for  a  line  of 
demarcation  that  should  run  along  the  crest  of  the 
mountains,  except  where  the  mountains  were  more 
than  ten  marine  leagues  from  the  shore,  in  which 
case  the  frontier  should  follow,  at  a  distance  of  ten 
marine  leagues  inland,  the  sinuosities  of  the  shore. 
AMth  these  new  instructions,  Stratford  Canning  was 
able  to  conclude  a  treaty  to  which  Sir  Charles  Bagot 
could  not  have  agreed.  And  on  the  lG/28  of  Feb- 
ruary 1825,  Stratford  Canning  on  beliulf  of  Great 
Britain  and  Count  Nesselrode  and  M.  de  Poletica  for 
Russia,  signed  a  treaty  definitely  dividing  Canada 
and  Russian  America. 


14  THE    ALASKO-CANADIAX    FRONTIER. 

George  Canning,  towards  the  end  of  his  instruc- 
tions to  Stratford  Canning,  showed  what  was  the 
chief  motive  of  England  in  the  pending  negotia- 
tions with  Russia.     He  Avrote  : 

"  It  remains  only  in  recapitulation,  to  remind 
you  of  the  origin  and  principles  of  this  whole  ne- 
gotiation. ; 

"  It  is  not  on  our  part,  essentially  a  negotiation 
about  limits. 

"  It  is  a  demand  of  the  repeal  of  an  offensive  and 
unjustifiable  arrogation  of  exclusive  jurisdiction  over 
an  ocean  of  unmeasured  extent ;  but  a  demand  qual- 
ified and  mitigated  in  its  manner,  in  order  that  its 
justice  may  be  acknowledged  and  satisfied  without 
soreness  or  humiliation  on  the  part  of  Russia. 

"  We  negotiate  about  territory  to  cover  the  re- 
monstrance upon  principle. 

"  But  any  attempt  to  take  undue  advantage  of 
this  voluntary  facility,  we  must  oppose."  ^'^ 

Til  us  the  cliief  concern  of  the  English  Govern- 
ment was  to  <)l)t;\in  from  that  of  Russia  an  official 
disclaimer  of  the  assertion  in  tlie  Ukase  of  1821  that 
the  waters  of  Behring  Sea  and  parts  of  the  northern 
Pacific  were  exclusively  Russian  waters.  Russia 
would  not  assent  to  formally  recognize  the  riglit  of 
Englisli  ships  freely  to  navigate  those  seas,  unless 
the  boundary  question  was  also  arranged,  and  settled 

'  ^  Fur  Seal  Arbitration,  Volume  IV.,  i)agc  448. 


TllK    ALA.SKO-CAAADIAX     FUoNTIKR.  15 

SO  as  to  insure  to  Russia  an  nnl>r()ken  Hsu  re  from  tlio 
Portland  Canal  up  to  Mount  Saint  Elias.  And  on 
this  last  point,  England,  after  a  long  and  .-tuMtorn 
resistance,  finally  yielded. 

Much  of  the  trouble  that  the  negotiators  of  the 
Anglo-Muscovite  treaty  of  1825  had  in  agreeing  upon 
the  eastern  boundary  of  the  lisiere  was  due  to  a  lack 
of  knowledge  respecting  the  mountains  along  the 
northwest  American  coast.  According  to  Vancou- 
ver's chart  and  other  available  information  a  moun- 
tain range  ran  along  the  coast  not  far  from  the  sea. 
When  Stratford  Canning  and  Count  Nesselrode  and 
M.  de  Poletica  finally  agreed  upon  the  mountain 
divide  as  the  frontier  between  the  two  nations,  Can- 
ning, acting  upon  instructions  from  his  cousin,  George 
Canning,  who  was  British  Secretary  of  Foreign  Af- 
fairs, insisted  that  should  tlie  summit  of  the  moun- 
tains prove  to  be,  at  any  point,  more  than  ten  marine 
leagues  from  the  shore,  then  the  line  of  demarcation 
should  be  drawn  parallel  to  the  sinuosities  of  the 
shore  at  a  distance  of  ten  marine  leagues.  This  ten 
league  limit  to  the  eastward  was  inserted  on  pur[)ose, 
as  George  Canning  stated  in  liis  instructions  to  Strat- 
ford Canning  to  guard  England  against  a  possibility 
of  having  her  territory  pushed  back  to  the  eastward 
a  hundred  miles  or  more  from  the  sea  in  ease  the 
crest  of  the  mountains  was  found  in  reality  to  lie  far 
back  from  the  coast  instead  of  close  to  it  as  was  then 
supposed. 


16  THE    ALASKO-CAXADIAN    FRONTIER. 

Thus  a  review  of  the  negotiations  that  culminated 
in  the  Anglo-Muscovite  treat}^  of  1825  shows  clearly 
that  the  negotiators  of  that  treaty  intended  to  include 
within  the  Russian  territory  a  lisiere  on  the  main- 
land, stretching  from  the  Portland  Canal  in  the  south 
up  to  Mount  Saint  Elias  in  the  north,  and  extending 
between  those  points  far  enough  inland  to  exclude 
the  English  possessions  absolutely  from  access  to  the 
coast  line  above  fifty-four  degrees  forty  minutes. 

The  treaty  was  drawn  in  French,  and  an  English 
copy  was  also  prepared.  In  the  French  version,  the 
language  of  diplomacy,^''  it  is  said  that  the  inland 
frontier  of  the  lisiere  shall  be  a  line  drawn  "paral- 
lele  aux  sinuosites  ["  windings  "  in  the  English  ver- 
sion] de  la  cote."  The  meaning  of  the  phrase  is  made 
absolutely  clear  by  the  use  of  the  word  sinuosith. 
Littre,  who  Avas  a  member  of  VAcademie  Frangaise, 
defines  in  his  Dictionnaire  de  la  Langue  Frangaise,  sin- 
uosites as  meaning:  *' Quality  de  ce  qui  est  sinueux. 
Cette  riviere  fait  beaucoup  de  sinuosites.  II  allait 
dans  une  chaloupe  avec  deux  ingenieurs  cotoyer  les 
deux  royaumes  de  Danemark  et  de  Suede,  pour 
mesurer  toutes  les  sinuosites,  Font.  Czar  Pierre.  Les 
jeunes  Deliens  se  melerent  avec  eux  [les  Ath^niens] 
pour  figurer  les  sinuosites  du  labyrinthe  de  Crete, 

^  *  Fur  Seal  Arbitration,  Volume  IV.,  page  500,  et  seq. 

Prindpes  du  Droit  des  Gem  par  Alphonse  Rivier :  Paris,  1896,  Vol- 
ume II.,  page  19. 

Jntrodwtion  to  the  sfudj/  of  International  Law  by  Theodore  D.  AVool- 
sey  :  New  York,  188S,  (iftli  edition,  page  270. 


THE    ALASKO-CANADIAN    FRONTIER.  17 

Barthel,  Anach.  ch.  76.'"''  Webster  defines  sinuosity 
to  mean  ;  "  1.  The  quality  of  being  sinuous,  or  bend- 
ing in  and  out.  2.  A  series  of  bends  and  turns  in 
arches  or  other  irregular  figures ;  a  series  of  wind- 
ings. '  A  line  of  coast  certainly  amounting  with  its 
sinuosities,  to  more  than  700  miles.'     S.  Smith."'® 

Thus  the  use  of  the  word  sinuosites,  independently 
of  all  other  evidence,  shows  that  the  negotiators  of 
the  treaty  meant  to  include  within  the  Russian 
lisiere  the  whole  of  the  Lynn  Canal  and  all  other 
fiords  above  the  Portland  Canal. 

Aside,  however,  from  the  manifest  intent  of  the 
negotiators  as  thus  revealed,  the  meaning  and  under- 
standing of  both  the  British  and  the  Russians  as  to 
the  definite  frontier  for  which  they  arranged  between 
their  respective  Empires  in  the  treaty  of  1825  is  con- 
clusively proved;  first,  by  the  overwhelming  multi- 
tude of  maps  of  the  best  cartographers  of  the  vari- 
ous leading  powers  of  the  Avorld,  including  those  of 
England  and  Canada,  in  sustaining  the  boundary 
always  claimed  in  the  beginning  by  Russia  and  after- 
wards by  the  United  States ;  second,  by  the  acts  of 
the  British  and  the  Canadian  authorities  until  well 
towards  the  close  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

In  the  year  1825,  shortly  after  the  treaty  defin- 
ing the  frontier  between  Russian  and  British  North 

1*  Littr6,  Paris,  Hachette  et  Cie,  1873. 

"^^  An  American  Dictionary  of  the  English  Language,  revised  by  Profes- 
sors Goodrich  and  Porter  of  Yale:  Springfield,  Mass.,  187G. 


/f.  PaAu-  tUnnef- 


'Kr^t^"^^ 


•    -»■    "^  ■»     '■.;-  X\         .v,W  "'^  /"'^ 


"ai^ffi'-ona 


iir-aii-cAf  .1 


Imi'khfal  KfHsiAN  M.M' :    "  Dki>.se  pak  M.  hi:  Kki-sicxstkun,  Contki^-Amikai,  *  *  * 
iMiMiK  )'\i{  oiMiiiic  Die  S\   Ma.ikstk  I m I'Ki;! A i.io  Saint  Peteksbuukg,  1827." 


MAP   No.    3. 


THE    ALASKO-CAXAI»IA.\     FRONTIER.  \U 

America  became  known,  A.  Briie,  one  of  the  lead- 
ing French  cartographers,  published  at  Paris  a  map 
entitled:  "Carte  de  I'Amerique  Septentriouale;  Re- 
digee  par  A.  Brue,  Geographe  du  Koi ;  Atlas  Uni- 
versel,  pi.  38."  On  this  map  Brue  drew  the  bound- 
ary of  Russian  America  on  the  continent  from  the 
top  of  the  Portland  Canal  at  the  distance  of  ten 
marine  leagues  from  tide  water  round  all  the  sin- 
uosities up  to  the  one  hundred  and  forty-first  de- 
gree of  longitude,  and  then  along  that  meridian 
to  the  north.  Two  years  later,  in  1827,  the  cele- 
brated Russian  Admiral  and  navigator,  A.  J. 
de  Krusenstern,  published  at  Saint  Petersburg, 
''par  ordre  de  Sa  Majeste  Imperiale,"  a  "Carte 
Generale  de  I'Ocean  Pacifique,  Hemisphere  Boreal."^' 
Krusenstern  drew  on  the  mainland  the  frontier  of 
Russian  America  from  the  top  of  the  Portland  Canal 
round  the  sinuosities  of  the  shore  at  a  distance 
of  ten  marine  leagues  from  tide  water  up  to  the 
one  hundred  and  forty-first  degree  of  longitude  and 
then  northward  along  that  meridian.  Along  the  line 
of  the  one  hundred  and  forty-first  degree  is  inscribed, 
"Limites  des  Possessions  Russes  et  Anglaises  d'  apres 
le  Traite  de  1825."  Two  years  later,  in  1829,  there 
appeared  at  Saint  Petersburg  a  map  of  the  eastern 
extremity  of  Siberia  and  the  north  west  coast  of 
America.    This  was  map  "  No.  58"  (b)  "  of  the  "Atlas 


1 '  See  map  No.  3. 


(  .m;ti;  (iKM 


AiF    Dki-ut  'r(ii'<.(;i;\i'iii(;i|.:   .MiMTAiin:." 


MAP    No.    4. 


TllK     AI.ASKO-CA.NADIA.N     I- i;(  )N  11  i;i;.  '21 

Geographique  do  rKni|)ii-('  dr  \{\\<>\{\"  etc..  tlint 
was  prepared  by  Kunelionary  PiadisclieU".  (Jii  tliis 
map,  Piadischetf'  drew  the  Russo-Britisli  frontier 
from  Mount  Saint  Elias  down  to  the  top  of  llic  Tort- 
land  Canal  and  then  along  that  sinuosity  down  to 
the  sea  at  fifty-four  degrees  lorly  niiimlcs,''  llicreby 
shutting  off  Britain  from  aeeess  to  the  sen  nhove 
fifty-four  degrees  forty  minutes.''' 

The  British  Government  made  no  protest  against 
the  way  Krusenstern  and  Piadiseheff  had  marked 
the  boundary.  On  the  contrary,  a  few  years  later, 
in  1831,  a  map  was  prepared  by  Joseph  Bouchette, 
Jr.,  "Deputy  Surveyor  General  oi"  the  Province  of 
Lower  Canada,"  and  published  the  same  year  at 
London  by  James  Wyld,  geographer  to  the  King, 
and  "with  His  Majesty's  most  gracious  and  special 
permission  most  humbly   and   gratefully  dedicated 


^  8  Map  "  No.  60"  (a)  "  of  the  atlas  is  entitleil,  "  Carte  Uenerale  de  TEin- 
pire  de  Riissie,"  etc.  Tliis  is  a  map  of  the  whole  Kiis^ian  Empire  in  1S'_".», 
and  in  the  left  hand  lower  corner  the  boundary  of  the  liussian  American 
lisiere  is  given  as  on  map  "  No.  58."  Charles  Sumner  used  this  general  maj) 
of  the  Empire,  "  No.  GO,"  in  preparing  his  speech  in  support  of  tlie  pur- 
chase of  Alaska  in  1867.  The  copy  that  he  used  is  now  in  the  Harvard 
Library.  The  reproduction  of  map  " No.  58  "  in  this  iiaper  (see  map  No.  4) 
was  made  from  a  copy  of  riadischefl"s  Atlas  now  in  tlie  possession  of  the 
writer  that  belonged  to  Prince  Alexander  of  Hesse,  the  brother  of  the 
Empress  Alexander  the  Second  of  Russia.  The  titles  and  nomenclature  of 
the  Atlas  are  given  both  in  Russian  and  French.  The  French  title  is :  Atlas 
Gcogmphique  de  VEmplre  de  Rassic,  du  Boijaiiinc  de  I'ulugue  tt  da  Grand 
DucM  de  Finlande  *  *  *  par  le  Fonclionnuirc  de  la  G'  Clime  Piadis- 
eheff, employe  au  Depot  Topographique  militairf  dutis  VEtnl-Major  de  -SVi 
Majeste  Impiriale :  Commence  en  1820  et  termini  en  1827,  revu  el  corrige  en 
1834. 
^^See  map  No.  4. 


^  ■^■''- 


"'ft 


ys/j 


Canadian  Map  ok  1881:  "  Compilku     *    *    *     jjy  Joseimi   Bouciikttk,  Jk. 
Dei'uty  Surveyor  General  of  the  Province  ok  Lower  Canada." 


MAP   No.    5. 


THE    ALASKO-CANADIAN    FRONTIKK.  23 

*  =^=  =^  to  His  Most  Excellent  Majesty  King  Will- 
iam IVth  '='  ■''  '•^-  compiled  from  the  latest  and 
most  approved  astronomical  observations,  authori- 
ties, and  recent  surveys."'-"  It  reaffirmed  the  Ijound- 
ary  as  given  upon  Krusenstern's  Imperial  map. 
Again  in  a  "  Narrative  of  a  Journey  Round  the 
World,  during  the  years  1841  and  1842,  by  Sir 
George  Simpson,  Governor-in-chief  of  the  Hudson's 
Bay  Company's  Territories  in  North  America"  pulj- 
.  lished  at  London  in  1847,"^  a  map  in  volume  one, 

'showing  the  author's  route,  gives  the  line  of  de- 
marcation between  the  Russian  and  the  English  ter- 
ritories as  it  Avas  laid  down  l:)y  Krusenstern  in  his 
map  of  1827:'' 

Ten  years  later,  in  1857,  an  investigation  into  the 
affairs  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  was  held  by 

.a  special  committee  of  the  House  of  Commons.  At 
that  investigation.  Sir  George  Simpson,  who  was 
examined,  presented  a  map  of  the  territory  in  (jues- 
tion,  and,  speaking  for  the  Company,  said  :  ''There 
is  a  margin  of  coast,  marked  yellow  on  the  map, 
from  54°  40'  up  to  Cross  Sound  which  we  have 
rented  from  the  Russian  Company."-^  This  map 
shows   that    the   strip   of    land    on    the   continent 

-°See  map  Xo.  5.  ■« 

2'  London;  llonry  Cullnirn,  1S47:  there  is  a  copy  in  the  British  Mu- 
seum. 

^^  See  map  No.  0. 
2^  See  map  Xo.  7. 


iM.\p  IN  "Narrative  of  a  Journey  Round  the  Woki. 
BY  Sir  George  Simpson,  London,  1847. 


MAP   No.    6. 


THE    ALASKO-CANADIAX    FRONTIER.  25 

extended  far  enough  inland  to  include  all  the 
sinuosities  of  the  coast  so  as  to  exclude,  accord- 
ing to  the  United  States  claims,  the  British  terri- 
tory altogether  from  any  outlet  upon  salt  water 
above  fifty-four  degrees  forty  minutes. 

Again,  in  18G7,  about  the  time  of  the  sale  b}^ 
Russia  to  the  United  States  of  Russian  America — 
to  which  William  H.  Seward  gave  the  name  of 
Alaska'^— "  Black's  General  Atlas  of  the  World" 
was  published  at  Edinburgh.  In  the  introduction 
of  this  work,  the  following  description  of  Russian 
America  is  given  : 

"  Russian  America  comprehends  the  N.  W.  portion 
of  the  continent,  with  the  adjacent  islands,  extend- 
ing from  Behring  Strait  E.to  the  meridian  of  Mount 
St.  Elias  (about  141°  W.),  and  from  that  mountain 
southward  along  the  Maritime  chain  of  hills  till  it 
touches  the  coast  about  54°  40'." 

Then,  on  three  maps  of  this  atlas,  "The  World," 
No.  2,  '^  The  World  on  Mercator's  Projection,"  No.  3, 
and  "  North  America,"  No.  39,  the  Russian  territory 
from  Mount  Saint  Elias  down  to  the  end  of  the 
Portland  Canal  at  fifty-four  degrees  forty  minutes  is 
marked  so  as  to  include  within  the  Muscovite  pos- 


^* Seward  at  Washington  as  Senator  and  Secretary  of  State,  hy  Frederick 
W.  Seward :  New  York,  1S91,  Volume  III.,  page  369. 

Concerning  the  sale  of  Alaska  by  Russia  to  the  United  States,  see 
Speech  of  Hon.  Charles  Sumner  of  Massadtuselts,  on  the  cession  of  Russian- 
America  to  the  United  Stales;  1S67,  passim;  and  The  Alabama  Arbitration, 
by  Thomas  Williiii:  Balch.  Pliihulelphia.  1900,  pages  24-38. 


"«# 


'^ir  or  Oif/u»'«"" 


^%-.   Tt^. 


< 


'M. 


^x 


'^   V. 


"5,, 


t.^^^ 


-oj, 


''oo^ 


#^ 


Mai'  i)i-  tiik  IIidson's  I'.ay  Comi-any:    "  Ohdkiuod  hv    riii:  IIoisk  of  Commons  to  itic  i-kintki) 

I'Aht  July  and  llrri  Aidi.sT,  1857."     Tuk  Ri'ssian  TicinnrouY,  which  is  Dakkkk  than 

THE  Canadian  in  thih  Keproouction,  is  Coi.oued  Yici.i.ow   on  the  Ohkhnai^  Map. 


MAP    No.    7. 


THE    ALASKO-CAXADIAX     FKOXTIKIt.  27 

sessions  all  the  fiords  and  estuaries  alnuL;  ihe  coast 
and  thus  cutting  oif  tlic  Britisli  territory  entirely 
from  all  access  to  tide  water  aljove  tii"ty-l"our  degrees 
forty  minutes.  In  addition  there  is  given  a  small 
map  marked  at  the  tup,  "  .^u})plementary  sketch 
map,  Black's  General  Atlas,  for  plate  41,"  and  at  the 
bottom,  "  United  States  after  Cession  of  Russian- 
America,  April  1867,  Coloured  Blue."  On  this 
sketch  map  the  territory  i)urchas(_'d  l)y  the  United 
States  is  marked,  "  Formerly  Russian  America,"  and 
like  the  rest  of  the  United  States,  is  colored  hhie. 
And  the  boundary  of  the  new  territory  of  Alaska 
is  given  as  upon  the  other  three  maps  of  this  Atlas, 
Nos.  2,  3  and  39,  already  cited,  according  to  Brue's 
map  of  1825,  and  Krusenstern's  map  of  1827,  and 
the  Canadian  and  the  English  mai)s  already  refei'red 
to,  and  in  accordance  with  the  territorial  claim  tliat 
Russia  and  the  United  States  have  always  main- 
tained and  acted  u})on. 

Many  other  maps  can  be  mentioned  in  addition  to 
those  above  quoted  against  Britain's  recent  claim. 
For  examples,  Petermann's  map  in  the  Mittheilungen 
of  April,  18G9;  Thomas  Devine's  map  prepared  and 
printed  in  1877  at  Toronto  by  order  of  the  Canadian 
Government;  Alexander  Keith  Johnston's  maj)  of 
^'  North  America"  in  his  Handy  Royal  Atlas  of  Modern 
Geography  published  at  Edinburgh  and  London,  in 
1881;  E.  Andriveau-Goujon's  map  of  '' I'Amerique 
du  Nord,"  puhlislied   at  Paris  in   1SS7.  and  finally 


28  THE    ALASKO-CANADIAN    FRONTIER. 

the  wall  map  (1897)  of  the  "  United  States "  by 
Edward  Stanford,-^  an  important  map  maker  of 
London  to-day,  give  to  Alaska  the  limits  ahvays 
claimed  since  1825  by  Russia  and  the  United  States. 
Some  maps — for  example,  "The  World  "  by  James 
Gardner,  published  in  1825  and  dedicated  ''To  His 
Most  Gracious  Majesty  George  the  IVth";  '' Nord 
America,  Entworfen  und  gezeichnet  von  C.  F.  Wei- 
land,"  1826  ;  and  a  "  Carte  Physique  et  Politique  par 
A.  H.  Brue,"  1827 — bring  the  Russian  boundary  on 
the  mainland  from  Mount  Saint  Elias  down  only  to 
a  point  about  half  way  opposite  Prince  of  Wales 
Island  at  about  fifty-six  degrees  and  then  along  the 
fiords  so  as  to  include  all  of  Prince  of  Wales  Island 
in  the  Russian  Territory,  instead  of  carrying  the 
frontier  to  the  top  of  the  Portland  Canal  and  then 
down  to  the  sea  at  about  fifty-four  degrees  and  forty 
minutes.  But  for  all  the  territory  above  the  point 
on  the  continent  about  half  way  opposite  Prince  of 
Wales  Island  up  to  the  one  hundred  and  forty-first 
degree  west  from  Greenwich,  these  maps  give  the 
divisional  line  between  the  Muscovite  and  the  Brit- 
ish territories  far  enough  inland  and  around  the 
sinuosities  of  the  coast  so  as  to  cut  off  the  British 
territory  from  all  contact  with  tide  water.  Besides, 
Weiland,  in  a  map  of  1843  corrected  liis  error  in  liis 
map  of  1826,  in  stopping  a  little  short  of  the  Port- 


2*  The  United  States:  London ;  published  by  Edward  Stanford,  26  and 
27  Cockspur  St.,  Charing  Cross,  S.  W.,  15th  July,  1897. 


THE    ALASKO-CANADIAN    FRONTIER.  29 

land  Canal  in  marking  the  Russo-Canadian  bound- 
ary; and  in  Brue's  maps  of  1833  and  1839  tlie  divi- 
sional line  is  given  as  it  was  marked  on  his  map  of 
1825.  Gardner's  map  is  overwhelmed  by  the  multi- 
tude of  English  and  Canadian  maps — governmental 
and  private — that  followed  Krusenstern's  delineation 
of  the  line  of  demarcation.  And  additional  proof  of 
how  far  south  the  negotiators  of  the  treaty  of  1825 
intended  that  the  Russian  lisihe  should  extend 
when  they  used  the  phrase,  "  la  dite  ligne  remontera 
au  nord  le  long  de  la  passe  dite  Portland  Channel, 
jusqu'au  point  de  la  tei're  ferme  ou  elle  atteint  le 
56®  degre  de  latitute  nord,"  is  clearly  shown  by 
Vancouver's  chart  upon  which  he  inscribed  the 
name  ''Portland  Canal." '-*^ 

Probably  the  most  important  English  map  as 
showing  what  the  best  geographers  of  the  British 
Government  thought,  until  very  recently,  was  the 
true  boundary,  is  the  British  "Admiralty  Chart 
No.  787,"  giving  the  North-west  coast  of  America 
from  "  Cape  Corrientes,  Mexico  to  Kadiak  Island," 
prepared  in  1876  by  F.  J.  Evans,  R.  N.,  published 
in  1877  and  corrected  up  to  April,  1898}'^  On  this 
Chart  of  the  British  Admiralty,  the  frontier  of 
the   United  States  descends   the  one  hundred   and 


'^^  A  Chart  showing  part  of  the  Coast  of  N.  W.  America  with  the  tracks  of 
His  Majesty's  Sloop  Discorerij  and  Armed  Tender  Chatham  commanded  by 
George  Vancouver:  London,  1798. 

*^  See  Map  No.  8. 


140° 


ir-r-r-r-|™FraigPg 


•  Uki 


tc.oa 


Jmmmwm 


_  -    6  GKAltAM    (    ©        »     .  .  ^    - 


I'.uni.sM    AnMiiJ.M.TY   Cjiakt,  ruuLisHKO  Junk  21st,  1877,  undkk  tiik  .Sii'KiaMKNDKNci':  of   Capj 
F.  J.  Evans,  R.  N.,  Hyduograpiier,  and  Corrected  to  April,  1898. 


TAIN 


MAI^   No.    8. 


thp:  alasko-canadian   frontier.  31 

forty-first  degree  of  longitude  west  from  Greenwicli, 
and  then  advancing  on  the  continent  but  ])assing 
round  the  sinuosities  of  the  coast  so  as  to  give  a  con- 
tinuous lisiere  of  territory  cutting  off  the  Dominion 
of  Canada  from  all  contact  with  any  of  the  fiords  or 
sinuosities  that  bulge  into  the  continent  between 
Mount  Saint  Elias  and  the  Portland  Canal,  the 
frontier  is  drawn  to  the  head  of  the  Portland 
Canal  at  about  fifty-six  degrees,  and  then  down 
that  sinuosity,  striking  Dixon's  Entrance  at  fifty- 
four  degrees  forty  minutes.  Thus  the  British  Ad- 
miralty itself  uj)holds  the  territorial  claims  held,  and 
maintained  by  hotli  the  Russian  and  the  United  States 
Governments}^ 

The  English  and  the  Canadian  Governments, 
through  their  official  representatives,  have  again 
and  again  recognized  the  claim  of  Russia  down  to 
1867,  and  since  then  that  of  the  United  States 
that  the  area  of  Russian  America  or  Alaska  com- 
prises an  unbroken  strip  of  territory  on  the  con- 
tinent, extending  from  Mount  Saint  Elias  in  the 
north  to  the  Portland  Canal  in  the  south ;  that 
this  strip  of  land  encircles  all  the  sinuosities  of  the 
shore;  and  that  by  this  strip  the  Dominion  of 
Canada   is  cut   off  from   all   contact  with   the  in- 


2*1  bought  the  copy  of  this  chart,  from  whiili  Map  No.  8  is  reproduced, 
at  Edward  Stanford's,  2()  and  27  Cockspur,  Cliaring  Cross,  S.  W.,  London, 
in  September,  1901,  showing  that  up  to  that  date  at  least,  the  British 
Admiralty  agreed  with  the  United  States  as  to  the  frontier. 


32  THE    ALASKO-CANADIAN    FRONTIER. 

dentations  of  the  sea  along  the  north  west  coast  of 
the  continent  between  the  Portland  Canal  at  about 
fifty-four  degrees  forty  minutes  north  latitude  and 
Mount  Saint  Elias.  From  these  numerous  official 
acts  a  few  are  presented  here. 

In  1857  a  '-'Select  Committee"-''  of  the  House  of 
Commons  of  the  British  Parliament  was  appointed 
"  to  consider  the  state  of  those  British  Possessions  in 
North  America  which  are  under  the  Administration 
of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company,  or  over  which  they 
possess  a  License  to  Trade."  The  Committee  con- 
sisted of  nineteen  members  in  all,  among  whom 
were  Mr.  Secretary  Labouchere,  the  chairman,  Lord 
John  Russell,  Lord  Stanley,  Mr.  Edward  Ellice,  a 
native  of  Canada  and  a  Director  of  the  Hudson's 
Bay  Company,  Mr.  Gladstone,  Mr.  Roebuck  and  Sir 
John  Pakington.  The  Committee  examined,  among 
others,  Sir  George  Simpson,  who  for  thirty-seven 
years  was   the   governor   of  the   territories   of  the 

2  3  Parliamentary  Papers,  1857. 
Accounts  a — Rep.  XV. 
Report  from  tlie  Select  Committee  on  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  to- 
gether with  the  proceedings  of  the  Committee,  minutes  of  evidence,  Ap- 
pendix and  Index.    Ordered,  by  the  House  of  Commons,  to  be  printed 
31  July  and  11  August,  1857. 


Second  Session,  1857. 

Veneris,  8°  die  maii,  1857. 
Ordered,  That  a  Select  Committee  be  appointed   "to   consider    the 
state  of  those  British  Possessions  in  North  America  which  are  under  the 
Administration  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company,  or  over  which  they  pos- 
sess a  License  to  Trade,"  (i>agc  II.). 


THE    ALASKO-CANADIAN    FRONTIER.  33 

Hudson's  Bay  Company.     Part  of  Sir  George  Simp- 
son's testimony  was  as  follows  : 

''  1026.  Besides  3^our  own  territory,  I  think  you 
administer  a  portion  of  the  territory  which  belongs 
to  Russia,  under  some  arrangement  with  the  Russian 
Company? — There  is  a  margin  of  coast  marked 
yellow  in  the  map  ^°  from  54°  40'  up  to  Cross  Sound, 
which  we  have  rented  from  the  Russian  American 
Company  for  a  term  of  years. 

"  1027.  Is  that  the  whole  of  that  strip  ?— The  strip 
goes  to  Mount  Saint  Elias. 

"  1028.  Where  does  it  begin  ?— Near  Fort  Simp- 
son, in  latitude  54°  ;  it  runs  up  to  Mount  Saint  Elias, 
which  is  further  north. 

"  1029.  Is   it   the  w^hole    of  that   strip   which   is^ 
included  between  the  British  territory  and  the  sea? 
— We  have  only  rented  the  part  between  Fort  Simp- 
son and  Cross  Sound. 

''  1030.  What  is  the  date  of  that  arrangement? — 
That  arrangement,  I  think,  was  entered  into  about 
1839. 

"1031.  What  are  the  terms  upon  which  it  was 
made;  do  you  pay  a  rent  for  that  Land? — The 
British  territory  runs  along  inland  from  the  coast 
about  30  miles  ;  the  Russian  territory  runs  along 
the  coast ;  we  have  the  right  of  navigation  tlu'ough 
the  rivers  to  hunt  the  interior  country.     A  misun- 

3 "See  map  No.  7. 


34  THE    ALASKO-CANADIAN     FRONTIER. 

derstanding  existed  upon  that  point  in  the  first 
instance ;  we  were  about  to  establish  a  post  upon  one 
of  the  rivers,  which  led  to  very  serious  difficulties 
between  the  Russian-American  Company  and  our- 
selves ;  we  had  a  long  correspondence,  and,  to  guard 
against  the  recurrence  of  these  difficulties,  it  was 
agreed  that  we  should  lease  this  margin  of  coast, 
and  pay  them  a  rent ;  the  rent,  in  the  first  instance, 
in  otters  ;  I  think  we  gave  2,000  otters  a  year ;  it  is 
now  converted  into  money  ;  we  give,  I  think,  1500£ 
a  year." 

It  will  be  observed  from  the  foregoing  questions 
and  the  replies  of  Sir  George  Simpson,  that  the 
Hudson's  Bay  Company  in  1839  recognized  by  an 
official  act,  to  wit,  a  lease  of  Russian  territory,  that 
Russia  had  a  lisiere  on  the  continent  from  Mount 
Saint  Elias  almost  down  to  Fort  Simpson,  and  that 
owing  to  this  strip  of  land  the  British  territory  was 
pushed  back  about  thirt}^  miles  "  inland  from  the 
coast."  In  addition  it  will  be  noted  that  Sir  George 
Simpson  in  describing  the  positions  and  extent  of 
the  land  rented  by  his  Company  from  the  Russian 
company,  referred  to  a  map''^  that  he  showed  the  com- 
mittee, and  upon  which  the  lisiere  belonging  to 
Russia  was  marked  so  as  to  include  the  sinuosities 
of  the  coast,  the  Lynn  Canal  and  all  the  other  fiords 
above  fifty-four  degrees  forty  minutes,  entirely,  and 

"  ^  See  map  No.  7. 


THE    ALASKO-CANADIAN    FRONTIER.  35 

SO  cutting  off  the  British  territory  absolutely  from 
all  contact  with  tide  water. 

Subsequently,  in  the  course  of  Sir  George  Simp- 
son's examination,  the  question  of  the  lease  in  1839 
by  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  of  the  Russian  lisih-e 
again  came  up,  and  the  following  questions  and 
answers  were  asked  and  given  : 

''  1732.  Chairman.  I  think  you  made  an  arrange- 
ment with  the  Russian  Company  by  which  you  hold 
under  a  lease  a  portion  of  their  territory  ? — Yes. 

"  1733.  I  believe  that  arrangement  is  that  you 
hold  that  strip  of  country  which  intervenes  between 
your  territory  and  the  sea,  and  that  you  give  them 
1500£  a  year  for  it?— Yes. 

"  1734.  What  were  your  objects  in  making  that 
arrangement? — To  prevent  difficulties  existing  be- 
tween the  Russians  and  ourselves ;  as  a  peace  offering. 

"  1735.  What  Avas  the  nature  of  those  difficul- 
ties?— We  w^ere  desirous  of  passing  through  their 
territory,  which  is  inland  from  the  coast  about  30 
miles.  There  is  a  margin  of  30  miles  of  coast  be- 
longing to  the  Russians.  We  had  the  right  of  navi- 
gating the  rivers  falling  into  the  ocean,  and  of  set- 
tling the  interior  country.  Difficulties  arose  between 
us  in  regard  to  the  trade  of  the  country,  and  to 
remove  all  those  difficulties  we  agreed  to  give  them 
an  annual  allowance.  I  think,  in  the  first  instance, 
2000  otter  skins,  and  afterwards  1500£  a  vear. 


36  THE    ALASKO-CANADIAX    FRONTIER. 

''  1738.  During  the  late  war  [the  Crimean]  which 
existed  between  Russia  and  EngUmd,  I  believe  that 
some  arrangement  was  made  between  you  and  the 
Russians  by  which  you  agreed  not  to  molest  one 
another? — Yes,  such  an  arrangement  Avas  made. 

'"1739.  By  the  two  companies? — Yes;  and  Gov- 
ernment confirmed  the  arrangement. 

"  1740.  You  agreed  that  on  neither  side  should 
there  be  any  molestation  or  interference  with  the 
trade  of  the  different  parties? — Yes. 

"  1741.  And  I  believe  that  that  was  strictly 
observed  during  the  whole  war  ? — Yes. 

"1742.  Mr.  Bell  Which  Government  confirmed 
the  arrangement,  the  Russian  or  the  English,  or 
both  ? — Both  Governments." 

This  additional  information  shows  that  the  Eng- 
lish Company  rented  the  lisiere  from  the  Russian 
Company,  because  the  lisiere  shut  off  the  English 
Company  from  access  to  the  fiords  of  the  sea  that 
advanced  into  the  continent.  And  further,  these 
questions  and  replies  prove  that  the  English  Govern- 
ment— by  confirming  the  agreement  of  the  English 
Company  with  the  Russian  not  to  interfere  with 
each  other  while  their  respective  Governments  were 
busy  waging  war  in  other  parts  of  the  world  during 
tlie  years  1854,  1855  and  1856 — recognized  and 
sanctioned  tlie  cUiim  of  Russia  tliat  she  had  an 
unbroken  lisiere  on  the  main  land  extending  far 
enough    inland   so  as   to    envelop    within    her    own 


THE     ALASKO-CANADIAN    FRONTIER.  37 

domains,  the  Lynn  Canal  and  all  the  fiords  that 
penetrate  into  the  continent  above  the  Portland 
Canal. 

Some  twenty  years  after  the  investigation  by  the 
House  of  Commons  into  the  affairs  of  the  Hudson's 
Bay  Company,  the  Canadian  Government,  through 
the  intermediary  of  the  British  Foreign  Office,  for- 
mally recognized  that  the  lisiere  of  Alaska  shut  off 
Canadian  territory  from  access  to  the  sea. 

It  was  in  1876,  while  taking  a  prisoner  named 
Peter  Martin,  who  was  condemned  in  the  Cassiar  dis- 
trict of  British  Columbia  for  some  act  .committed  in 
Canadian  territory,  from  the  place  where  he  was  con- 
victed to  the  place  where  he  was  to  be  imprisoned, 
that  Canadian  constables  crossed  with  the  prisoner 
the  United  States  territory  lying  along  the  Stickine 
River.  They  encamped  with  Martin  at  a  point  some 
thirteen  miles  up  the  river  from  its  mouth.  There 
Martin  attempted  unsuccessfully  to  escape,  and  made 
an  assault  on  an  officer.  Upon  his  arrival  at  Vic- 
toria, the  capital  of  British  Columbia,  he  was  tried 
and  convicted  for  his  attempted  escape  and  attack 
upon  the  constable ;  and  the  court  sentenced  him. 
The  Secretary  of  State,  Hamilton  Fish,  protested 
against  this  infringement  of  the  territorial  sovereignty 
of  the  United  States  in  the  Territory  of  Alaska.  In 
a  letter  to  Sir  Edward  Thornton,  the  English  Minister 
at  Washington,  he  said  :  ''  I  have  the  honor,  there- 
fore, to  ask  again  your  attention  to  the  subject  and 

116271 


38  THE    ALASKO-CANADIAN    FRONTIER. 

to  remark  that  if,  as  appears  admittedly  to  be  the 
fact,  the  colonial  officers  in  transporting  Martin  from 
the  place  at  which  he  was  convicted  to  his  place  of 
imprisonment,  via  the  Stickine  River,  did  conduct 
him  within  and  through  what  is  the  unquestioned 
territory  of  the  United  States,  a  violation  of  the 
sovereignty  of  the  United  States  has  been  committed, 
and  the  recapture  and  removal  of  the  prisoner  from 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  United  States  to  British  soil 
is  an  illegal  act,  violent  and  forcible  act,  which 
cannot  justify  the  subsequent  proceedings  whereby 
he  has  been,  is  or  may  be  restricted  of  his  liberty." 
The  transit  of  the  constables  with  their  prisoner, 
Martin,  through  American  territory  was  not  due  to 
a  mistake  on  their  part,  as  to  the  extent  of  Canadian 
territory,  for  J.  B.  Lovell,  a  Canadian  Justice  of  the 
Peace  in  the  Cassiar  district  of  British  Columbia 
wrote  to  Captain  Jocelyn  in  command  at  Fort  Wran- 
gel,  saying  :  "  The  absence  of  any  jail  here  (Glen- 
ora,  Cassiar),  or  secure  place  of  imprisonment  neces- 
sitates sending  him  through  as  soon  as  possible,  and 
I  hope  you  will  excuse  the  liberty  we  take  in  forward- 
ing him  through  United  States  territory  without  spe- 
cial permission."  After  an  investigation  into  the 
facts  of  the  case,  the  Dominion  Government  acknowl- 
edged the  justness  of  Secretary  Fish's  protest  by 
"  setting  Peter  Martin  at  liberty  without  further 
delay;"  and  thus  recognized  that  the  Canadian  con- 
stables who  had  Martin  in  tlieir  charge  Avhen  they 


THE    ALASKO-CANADIAN    FRONTIER.  39 

encamped  on  the  Stickine  thirteen  miles  up  from  the 
mouth  of  the  river,  were  on  United  States  soil,  and 
so  that  Canada's  jurisdiction  in  that  region  did  not 
extend  to  tide  water.^^ 

Another  recognition  by  the  British  Empire  that 
the  lisiere  restricted  Canadian  sovereignty  from  con- 
tact with  the  sea,  occurred  shortly  after  the  case 
of  Peter  Martin. 

Owing  to  a  clash  between  the  United  States  and 
the  Canadian  customs  officials  as  to  the  extent  of 
their  respective  jurisdiction  on  the  Stickine  River, 
their  two  Governments  agreed  in  1878  upon  a  pro- 
visional boundary  line  across  that  river.  The  Ca- 
nadian Government  had  sent  in  March  1877  one 
of  its  engineer  officers,  Joseph  Hunter,  "to  exe- 
cute "  in  the  language  of  Sir  Edward  Thornton  to 
Secretary  Evarts  ''a  survey  of  a  portion  of  the 
Stickine  River,  for  the  purpose  of  defining  the 
boundary  line  where  it  crosses  that  river  between  the 
Dominion  of  Canada  and  the  Territory  of  Alaska." 
This  Canadian  engineer.  Hunter,  after  measuring 
from  Rothsay  Point  at  the  mouth  of  the  Stick- 
ine River,  a  distance  ten  marine  leagues  inland, 
determined — in  the  light  of  Articles  III.  and  IV. 
of  the  Anglo-Russian  Treaty  of  February  16/28, 
1825,  which  two  Articles  he  was  instructed  ex- 
pressly *'by  direction  of  the  minister  of  the   inte- 

^  2  Papers  relating  to  the  Foreign  Relations  of  the  United  States :    Washing- 
ton ;  Government  Printing  Office,  1877,  pages  266,  267,  271. 


40  THE    ALASKO-CANADIAN    FRONTIER. 

rior  "  to  consider  in  locating  the  boundary — that  the 
frontier  crossed  the  Stickine  at  a  point  about  twenty- 
five  miles  up  the  river  and  almost  twenty  miles  in 
a  straight  line  from  the  coast.  Without  consider- 
ing whether,  owing  to  the  break  in  the  w^ater  shed 
caused  by  the  passage  of  the  Stickine  through  the 
mountains,  the  United  States  territory  extends  in- 
land to  the  full  extent  of  thirty  miles,  Hunter 
decided  that  the  line  should  cross  the  river  at  a 
point  twenty  miles  back  from  the  coast,  but  still 
far  enough  back  from  the  mouth  of  the  river  to 
shut  off  Canadian  territory  from  contact  in  that 
district  Avith  the  sea.  He  came  to  this  decision, 
because  he  found  that  at  that  point  a  range  of 
mountains,  parallel  to  the  coast,  crossed  the  Stickine 
River,  and,  as  he  stated  expressly  in  his  report  to 
his  cliief,  he  acted  upon  the  theory  that  this  moun- 
tain range  foUoAved  the  shore  line  within  the  mean- 
ing of  the  treaty  of  1825  as  he  understood  it.  In  his 
report  to  his  Government  he  said  :  '' Having  identi- 
fied Rothsay  Point  on  the  coast  at  the  delta  of  the 
Stickine  River,  a  monument  was  erected  thereon, 
from  which  the  survey  of  the  river  was  commenced, 
and  from  which  luas  estimated  the  ten  marine 
leagues  referred  to  in  the  convention."  The  Ca- 
nadian Government  sent  a  copy  of  this  report  to- 
getlici-  with  a  map  explaining  it  through  the  Brit- 
ish Foreign  Office  to  Sir  Edward  Thornton  at 
Washington,    who    communicated    it   to    Secretary 


THE    ALASKO-OAXADIAN     KRONTIKR.  41 

William  M.  Evarts,  willi  the  purpose  of  obtaining 
his  acceptance  of  this  l)()iiii(lary.  Mr.  Evarts  agreed 
to  accept  it  as  a  provisional  line,  but  witli  the  reser- 
vation that  it  should  not  in  any  way  prejudice 
the  rights  of  the  two  Governments,  whenever  a  joint 
survey  was  made  to  determine  the  frontier.  By  this 
voluntary  proposal  of  a  provisional  boundary  across 
the  Stickine  River,  the  British  and  the  Canadian 
Governments  showed  that  in  1877  and  1878  they 
considered  that  Canadian  territory  above  the  point 
of  fifty-four  degrees  forty  minutes  Avas  restricted 
by  the  meaning  of  Articles  III.  and  IV.  of  the  Anglo- 
Muscovite  Treaty  of  1825  from  access  to  the  sea.^'^ 

The  foregoing  review  of  the  negotiations  that 
resulted  in  the  treaty  of  1825,  and  the  subsequent 
acts  of  the  nations  concerned  in  the  Alasko-Cana- 
dian  frontier,  shows  clearly  that,  from  the  very 
inception  of  the  negotiations,  Russia  insisted  upon 
the  absolute  possession  of  a  continuous,  unbroken 
lisiere  on  the  continent  down  to  the  Portland  Canal 
for  the  openly  expressed  purpose  of  shutting  out 
England  from  access  to  the  sea  above  fifty-four 
degrees  forty  minutes ;  and  that  England  finally 
yielded  the  point. 

During  Polk's  Administration  (1845-49),  when  the 
United  States  and  Great  Britain  advanced  conHicting 
claims  to  the  territory  lying   between   the  Rocky 

^^  Papers  relating  to  the  Foreign  Relations  of  the  UnUM  St<it>'s :     Washing- 
ton; Government  Printing  Office,  1878,  page  339. 


42  THE     ALASKO-CANADIAN    FEOXTIER. 

Mountains  and  the  Pacific  Ocean,  now  known  as 
British  Columbia,  and  the  supporters  of  Polk  took 
up  the  cry  of  "  Fifty-four  forty  or  fight,"  Russia 
offered  her  American  possessions  to  the  United  States 
if  they  would  maintain  their  claim  to  the  territory 
west  of  the  Rockies  up  to  fifty-four  degrees  forty 
minutes,  the  most  southern  point  of  Russian  America, 
thereby  shutting  out  Britain  entirely  from  access  to 
the  Pacific  Ocean.^"*  But  owing  to  the  jealousy  of  the 
Slave  Power,  our  Government  yielded  all  the  country 
west  of  the  Rockies  and  above  the  forty-ninth  degree 
of  north  latitude,  and  thus  permitted  the  British 
Empire  to  obtain  an  outlet  on  the  Pacific.  Not  con- 
tent with  this  successful  territorial  extension,  the 
English  Empire,  after  having  allowed  without  a 
protest  for  almost  three  quarters  of  a  century  the 
inclusion  by  the  Muscovite  and  the  United  States 
Governments  within  their  sovereignty — as  is  shown 
both  by  the  maps  and  other  official  acts  of  these 
two  nations — of  all  the  sinuosities  or  fiords  along 
the  coast  of  the  mainland  above  fifty-four  degrees 
forty  minutes,  the  English  Empire  now  lays  claim, 
since  the  discovery  of  gold  in  the  Klondike,  to  a 
large  and  to  us  most  important  part  of  our 
Alaskan  domain.  The  American  and  the  British 
contentions  to-day  are  well  expressed  by  the  pithy 

'  *  Papers  relating  to  Foreign  Affairs,  accompanying  the  annual  message  of  the 
President  to  the  second  session  of  the  Fortieth  Congress :  1S67  :  Part  I.,  Wash- 
ington :  Government  I^rinting  Oflice,  1868,  page  390. 


THE    ALASKO-CANADIAX    FRONTIER.  43 

sentence  in  which  Count  Nesseh-ode  over  seventy- 
five  years  ago  contrasted  the  efforts  of  Russia  and 
Britain  Avhen  they  were  seeking  to  agree  upon  a 
frontier  between  their  American  possessions:  "Ainsi 
nous  voulons  conserver,  et  les  Compagnies  Angloises 
veulent  acquerir."  (Thus  we  wish  to  retain,  and 
the  English  Companies  wish  to  acquire.) 

Canada  wishes,  and  she  has  the  support  of  Eng- 
land, to  have  her  claim — that  she  is  entitled  to  many 
outlets  upon  tide  water  above  fifty-four  degrees  forty 
minutes — submitted  to  the  arbitration  of  third  par- 
ties.^ The  United  States  should  never  consent  to  any 
such  arrangement.  If  such  a  plan  were  adopted  and 
a  decision  were  given  altogether  against  Canada,  she 
would  be  no  worse  off  than  she  has  been  from  1825 
to  the  present  day,  while  anything  decided  in  her 
favor  would  be  a  clear  gain  to  her.  This  country, 
on  the  contrary,  cannot  by  any  possibility  obtain 
more  than  she  now  has,  viz.,  tliat   wliich  she  pur- 


^^A  letter  by  the  writer,  entitled,  "Canada  and  Alaska"  briefly  touch- 
ing on  the  boundary  question,  was  printed  in  tlie  Xew  York  Xalion,  Jan- 
uary 2nd,  1902,  and  the  New  York  Evening  Post  January  4th.  Another 
letter,  also  under  the  same  title,  written  by  a  gentleman  at  Ottawa,  ap- 
peared in  the  same  papers,  January  16th  and  18th  respectively.  Still 
another  letter,  under  the  title  of  "  Facts  about  the  Alaskan  Boundary '' 
was  published  in  the  X<(iioii  of  January  23rd,  and  the  Evening  I'osI,  Janii- 
arj'  27th  :  this  communication  was  written  by  a  gentleman  in  California, 
evidently  eitiier  an  Englishman  or  a  Canadian.  The  Hon.  William  H. 
Dall,  of  Washington,  D.  C,  followed  with  a  strong  letter  "  The  Alaskan 
Boundary,"  in  the  Nation,  January  30th,  and  the  Evening  Post,  February 
1st.  Then  another  communication  by  the  writer  "Canada  and  Alaska" 
was  given  a  place  in  the  Nation,  February  6th,  and  the  Eveyiing  Poxt, 
Febniarv  7th. 


44  THE    ALASKO-CANADIAX    FEONTIER. 

chased  from  Russia  in  1867  and  to  all  of  whose  rights 
she  succeeded ;  at  the  same  time  the  United  States 
can  lose  heavily.  For  the  inclusion  in  Canadian 
territory  of  only  one  port,  like  Pyramid  Harbor  or 
Dyea  on  the  Lynn  Canal,  would  greatly  lessen  for 
the  United  States  the  present  and  future  value  of  the 
Alaskan  lisiere.  The  evidence  in  the  case  is  over- 
whelmingly on  the  side  of  the  United  States  and 
shows  that  they  are  entitled,  by  long,  uninterrupted 
occupancy  and  other  rights,  to  an  unbroken  strip 
of  land  on  the  continent  from  Mount  Saint  Elias 
down  to  the  Portland  Channel.  There  is  no  more 
reason  for  the  United  States  to  allow  their  right 
to  the  possession  of  this  unbroken  Alaskan  lisiere 
to  be  referred  to  the  decision  of  foreign  judges, 
than  would  be  the  case  if  the  British  Empire  ad- 
vanced a  claim  to  sovereignty  over  the  coast  of 
Georgia  or  the  port  of  Baltimore  and  proposed  that 
this  demand  should  be  referred  to  the  judgment 
of  subjects  of  third  Powers.  For  if  the  claim  of 
Canada  to  Alaskan  territory  is  referred  to  foreigners 
for  settlement,  the  United  States  can  gain  nothing, 
while  they  will  incur  the  risk  of  losing  territory 
over  which  the  right  of  sovereignty  of  Russia  and 
then  of  the  United  States  runs  back  unchallenged 
for  more  tlian  half  of  a  century.  If  France  ad- 
vanced a  claim  to  the  Isle  of  Wight  and  then 
asked  England  to  refer  her  title  to  the  island  to 
the  arbitration   of  foreigners,  would  Great  Britain 


THE    ALASKO-CANADIAN    FKONTIER.  45 

consent  ?  And  for  the  English  Empire  to  advance 
a  demand  to  many  outlets  upon  tide  water  on  the 
northwest  coast  of  America  above  fifty-four  degrees 
forty  minutes  and  then  ask  the  United  States  to  sub- 
mit this  claim  to  the  arbitration  of  the  citizens 
of  third  Powers,  is  a  similar  case.  Whether  the 
frontier  should  pass  over  a  certain  mountain  top 
or  through  a  given  gorge  is  a  proper  subject  for 
settlement  by  a  mutual  survey.  But  by  no  possi- 
bility has  Canada  any  right  to  territory  touching 
tide  water  above  fifty-four  degrees  forty  minutes. 
The  United  States  should  never  consent  to  refer 
such  a  proposition  to  arbitration.  / 


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